June 12, 2019 - Yesterday, Tuesday, June 11, 2019, Unit 63 members from the Stericycle certification attended two ratification meetings in Richmond, BC.

Results of the ratification vote for the proposed USW Local 1944-Stericycle Collective Agreement have been tabulated and the agreement has been ratified. It will be signed by the Local Union and the Company and will be effective, upon signing, from December 21, 2018 to December 31, 2020.

Unit 63 members were asked to vote “Yes” or “No” to the question “Are you in favour of ratifying the tentative Collective Agreement reached on May 23, 2019?” The results of the vote are 100% in favour.

The successful collective agreement was negotiated based on the results of a bargaining survey launched in December 2018, which got participation from 85% of Unit 63 members. Thanks to this high level of membership engagement, we were able to negotiate a fair collective agreement that meets our members’ expectations.

Highlights of the agreement include:

• 2.75% wage increase in each year of the agreement
• Wage increase retroactive to December 21, 2018
• Shift times are defined for day, afternoon and graveyard
• Differential increases for afternoon shift, graveyard shift, trainer and team lead
• Company’s Extended Care Package premiums will be 100% paid for by the Company
• Company’s Dental Plan premiums will be 100% paid for by the Company
• Wage scale steps decrease from seven to five
• Top wage rate reached after 49 months length of service.

“After the positive outcome with Shaw over the last several months, this collective agreement is another success for our Local Union,” said Isabelle Miller, National President. “The changes we continue to make in how we communicate with our membership are directly linked to our successes at bargaining. The Local is already preparing for additional rounds of negotiations taking place later this year, and is focussed on ensuring that we maintain strong momentum going into future preparation for negotiations with Telus. All of our efforts towards building capacity within our membership will play a direct role in how we will deal with Telus come 2021.”

We will update the collective agreement with the agreed changes and once both parties review and sign the renewed collective agreement, it will be available for members online. A copy of the tentative agreement and collective agreement can be found under the Workplaces heading, Stericycle.

The Unit 63 Bargaining Committee would like to thank our members for their support throughout this bargaining process.

In Solidarity,

Your Unit 63 Stericycle Bargaining Committee
Louise Davis
Joan Mitchell
Perry Pasqualetto, Local Union Representative
Steve McWhirter, Local Union Representative